From what Kelli Ryan has heard about Twitter, it seems like maintaining a running Facebook status.
I don't need to know daily what people are doing in their life
said Ryan, an Ohio University freshman studying English. It didn't seem like it was as much of a network as Facebook is.
Since it launched in 2006, Twitter has circulated information about topics ranging from President Barack Obama's presidential campaign to Miley Cyrus's latest relationship through posts, or tweets of no more than 140 characters.
The micro-blogging Web site allows its 14 million U.S. users to follow others who are posting information that interests them. Although Twitter is geared toward two-way communication, some critics claim that it can encourage self-indulgence by blurring the line between conversation and journaling.
Social Media
Despite the similarities between tweets and Facebook statuses, the social networking sites foster different communication styles.
With about 200 million users, Facebook focuses more on personal relationships while Twitter concentrates on information and professional connections, said Andrew Ledbetter, an OU professor of communication studies.
Paul Matson, an OU senior studying public relations, uses his Twitter account to network with professionals and build an online presence that markets his skills. Unlike his Facebook profile, he mostly confines his tweets to information related to communications and marketing, said Matson, who blogs and tweets about social media.
It's basically a streamlined way of blogging he said. If you follow someone
you might not necessarily be friends with them; you might just be interested in what they have to say.
Recruiters from companies like AT&T are searching social media sites like Twitter for potential job candidates, said Robert French, a public relations professor at Auburn University and founder of the PR networking site PROpenmic.org.
Companies are looking for social media-savvy students who know how to use sites like Twitter to network and start conversations, not just for personal uses, French said.
Visibility is the key
he said. They can't hire you if they don't know you.
Dialogue vs. Monologue
Twitter and Facebook enable efficient communication with broad networks of people, but the drawback comes when users post personal details that aren't relevant to others, Ledbetter said.
People are writing
'Hey I just ate a bagel
' he said. Is that relational maintenance
or is that a form of narcissism in some way
just being obsessed with yourself and what you're saying?
Even though the Facebook status application asks, What are you thinking? and Twitter prompts, What are you doing? answering too literally in posts can lead to one-way communication, Ledbetter said.
Using Twitter like an extended train of Facebook statuses is more like exhibitionism than communication, Matson said.
Twitter is meant to be more a conversation rather than just a status
he said. People who are early users tend to use it as a Facebook status
because that's what they're used to.
Although some students are using Twitter and other social media profiles to network and market their skills, others still are figuring it out.
By following the New York Times and her hometown newspaper on Twitter, OU freshman Andrea Harless uses the application mostly as a news aggregator. Harless, who is studying political science, said she occasionally posts updates about the animal shelter where she interns in Youngstown, but also tweets about her daily routine.
Usually it's just me thinking that everyone cares about my life and putting
